A Penitente Herman (Brother) speaks of his deep connection with the land and water and his Penitente Brothers and Sisters.

Long after the season of Lent is a memory, la Divina Luz still shimmers. Deep into summer, when the second crop of alfalfa is almost ready to be cut and jars of fresh apricot jam turn up for sale at highway stands, the Divine Light is still there. T...

Northern New Mexico Penitente Hermanos (Brothers) speak of their deep commitment to their culture and spirituality within the brotherhood of La Fraternidad Piadoso de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazarite (The Pious Fraternity of Our Father Jesus Nazarite).

“We are all normal, everyday people. We are ranchers, we are physicians, we are students, we are everyone.
“We get together to pray. We find that praying can be a form of penance.
“And we go to our morada to be reminded of the life of Chr...

A brief description of the Penitente Brotherhood and the Hispano communities it served.

During the 1600s and 1700s, Hispano settlers in present-day New Mexico lived in small isolated poblaciones, or communities. They built adobe houses, dug acequias (irrigation ditches), and planted their crops along these ditches. The settlers lived in...